Nick McKeown

1

CS244 Winter 2009 Lecture 1 Introduction

• Nick McKeown
• Martin Casado
• Guido Appenzeller

2
Goal of the class

• To become familiar with the field of networking
  research Network architecture, protocols and
  systems.
• To get some practice in the art of reading
  research papers.
• To get our hands dirty in 3 programming
  assignments.
• Its a big field, so we will focus on just a few
  topics.

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Basics

• Lecture
• Each class we will discuss 2 papers.
• You must read the papers before class
• Read deep papers should be read in depth (see
  later)
• Read once papers can be read quickly
• Most of the time will be spent on discussion
• 25 of your grade comes from in-class
  participation
• 10 from surprise quizzes
• So.read the papers, be here, be ready to
  participate

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Projects

• Three programming projects designed to give you
  first-hand experience with common techniques
• Project 1 Build a learning Ethernet switch
• Project 2 Build a flow-aware router
• Project 3 A project of your choice
• Details and deadlines on web-page
• First project starts on Friday Jan 9
• TA discussion session on Friday Jan 9

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Grade

• In-class Participation 25
• Taking part in discussions 20
• Being the scribe for one lecture 5
• Surprise Quizzes 10
• Project 1 10
• Project 2 15
• Project 3 20
• Final (based on papers no mid-term) 20

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In-class participation

• Come prepared to summarize the paper and discuss
  the main ideas
• We will all learn from each other
• Attendance is a necessary but not sufficient
  condition for participation
• Shall we vote for no laptops?
• (unless you are the scribe)

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Logistics

• Lecturers
• Nick McKeown nickm_at_stanford.edu
• Guido Appenzeller (PhD 04) appenz_at_cs.stanford.edu
  
• Martin Casado (PhD 07) casado_at_cs.stanford.edu
• Teaching Assistants
• KK Yap yapkke_at_stanford.edu
• Neda Beheshti nbehesht_at_stanford.edu
• Administrative Assistant
• Betul Buyukkaya-Delibalta betulb_at_stanford.edu

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Contact

• Whenever possible su.class.cs244
• Quickest response
• Someone else probably has same question
• Please dont send to class list
• If private cs244-win0809-staff_at_lists.stanford.edu
  
• All extension requests must go to Nick
• Office hours and discussion sessions posted on
  web page

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Hints on reading a paperKeshav

• Three stage approach
• Read quickly in 5-10minutes
• Read with greater care ignore proofs
• Deconstruct paper question all assumptions

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Stage 1 5-10 minute read

• Read title, abstract, introduction, section
  headings, conclusion, reference list.
• Look for 5 Cs
• Category What type of paper is it?
• Context Where does it fit in?
• Correctness Do assumptions make sense?
• Contributions What are the main ones?
• Clarity Is it well-written?

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Stage 2 Read with care

• Spend about an hour re-reading paper in detail
• Try to understand the story
• Summarize the main thrust
• Identify main supporting evidence

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Stage 3 Deconstruct the paper

• This can take one or more hours
• Understand every proof
• Question every assumption
• Identify missing references
• Why was the paper written this way?
• How else could the paper have been written?

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First papers For Thursday

• Read deep
• The Design Philosophy of the DARPA Internet
  Protocols - Clark, 1988
• End-to-End Arguments in System Design - Saltzer,
  Reed and Clark, 1984
• Read once
• A Brief History of the Internet - Leiner et al.,
  2003

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Logistics

• Scribe
• 1/2 page summary of each Read deep paper,
• 1-2 page summary of in-class discussion
• 1 paragraph critique/opinion of each paper
• Email to cs244-staff mailing list in lt7 days
• Volunteer for scribe on Thursday?
• Next Tuesday?
• Nameplates and photographs